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COVINGTON TWP. - Snorting his first line of cocaine at Boston College opened a door that fallen NBA star Chris Herren could not close for 14 years - long after his drug addiction cost him a once-promising career.

The Denver Nuggets 1999 second-round pick told 1,500 North Pocono students on Wednesday of his downward spiral during which a man who had once made $500,000 with the Boston Celtics pawned his children's toys to afford his next fix.

Speaking in North Pocono High School's auditorium, Mr. Herren told eighth- through 12th-graders that his behavior forced his eight-months pregnant wife to support their children while he neglected and disappointed his family.

One of the low moments the former 6-foot-2 guard recalled came one day when he got high, left his son stranded at the airport for eight hours and then tried to step in front of a vehicle on the highway to take his own life.

Mr. Herren warned the students that many of them are heading down the same dangerous road with drugs as his, that started with booze, pills and marijuana in high school and eventually spread to oxycodone and heroin after college.

"I never met one (addict) that I hung out with that struggled in that world that started with heroin and cocaine," Mr. Herren said. "We all start off in the woods, man, hiding from the cops with the fire lit low so they can't see us from the road. We all start off at the house where the parents work late so we go there after school. We all start off in the basement of the parents who let us drink because they believe it's safe. We all start off smoking blunts and drinking out of red solo cups, man. That's the first page in every addict's story. Believe that."

Although the idea of "gateway drugs" is controversial, Mr. Herren cited a Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia study that found nearly 90 percent of people who have tried cocaine used "gateway substances."

Mr. Herren was already out of the NBA after the 2000-01 season, and he finally got sober in 2008 - after racking up a criminal record of seven drug-related felonies.

He founded the nonprofit organization, the Herren Project in 2011 to help people struggling with addiction. He now visits high schools around the country to tell youths about his struggles.

Several students indicated many of their peers use drugs recreationally, and during the presentation's question-and-answer period, some students told stories about addiction struggles among friends and family.

One student tearfully described a time when her mother overdosed. Another said his father used to drink before work every day and smash household appliances in a drunken rage when he was home. And, another told Mr. Herren about a friend who said he uses marijuana as an escape from his parents' fighting and feelings of being unloved.

Mr. Herren encouraged the students to expose their friends who are using drugs to force them to get help, and during a separate community meeting on Tuesday night, he had advice for parents, too.

He encouraged parents to lock their medicine cabinets, monitor their children on social media, even drug-test their teens.

Stacey Talbot, a Jefferson Twp. parent, said she was "on the fence" about drug testing children.

"I don't disagree, but I ... want my children to know I do trust them," she said.

Ms. Talbot is a pediatric nurse practitioner and said the presentation "hit close to home" because she has seen children struggle with drug addiction.

She took her two teenage children to the community forum because she wanted them to hear Mr. Herren's story.

"He had it all. He had everything," Ms. Talbot said. "The drugs took it away from him, and he couldn't do anything about it."

Martin Moran, a North Pocono High School senior, said it was important for students who think what happened to Mr. Herren can never happen to them to hear the former basketball star's story.

"I think a lot of people have a misconception about how powerful it can actually be," he said.

Superintendent Bryan McGraw said he has been thinking about whether the district can do more to help students overcome drug problems.

"I think every community has a challenge with it," Mr. McGraw said. "It's not an isolated problem. It's not a poor problem. It's not a rich problem. It's an everybody problem, and the more we're educated by someone like this, the stronger we become."

Contact the writer: kwind@timesshamrock.com, @kwindTT on Twitter

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